


I should have...

by BabyBird



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Episode: s01e07 Gates of Avalon, Flogging, Fluffy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, I tried to keep the flogging part as minimal and non-graphic as possible, M/M, Uther Pendragon's A+ Parenting (Merlin)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-18 13:47:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29490810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabyBird/pseuds/BabyBird
Summary: For the Hurt / Comfort quest over on Tumblr, based upon the comment Uther makes in episode 7 of season 1 (Gates of Avalon): "If this was a time of war, I would have you flogged."This takes place at the end of the episode where instead of ending in the stocks again, Uther is sick of Merlin's behavior and has him flogged right there and then in the Throne Room. Needless to say that Arthur is less than impressed by his fathers order and after all is said and done, he takes Merlin to his room to look after the boy.This can be read as either Merthur or bromance (like in the actual series)
Relationships: Merlin & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 30
Collections: Tavern Quest 2: Merlin Hurt/Comfort Fest 2021





	I should have...

**Author's Note:**

> Couple of things to note:  
> 1) English is not my first language, so please don't come at me because you found a spelling or a grammar mistake. Telling me about it so that I can correct it is fine, no need to call me an idiot ;)  
> 2) This work has been beta-ed by the amazing Paxaq! I cannot thank them enough for all the work they did in making this fic so much better!  
> 3) It's been 6+ years since I last wrote a thing, so the flow of the story might be a bit off (apologies for that!)  
> I hope you enjoy :D

“Well, I hope for our sake you find a cure. Or we’ll find ourselves with a food shortage on our hands.” Uther glared at the boy, put off by everything that had been happening with Arthur and Sophia. Even more so when he swore he could hear Arthur’s manservant softly chuckle “food shortage” under his breath. Uther’s eyes narrowed. “You know what, boy, I get the feeling that you are not taking this punishment seriously.”

Almost instantly, the boy paled and straightened his back, looking at the king with wide eyes. “Oh no, Your Majesty, I do take these punishments seriously!”

“I don’t think you do, boy,” the king replied grimly. “Mental affliction or not, I cannot have a servant disrespect me like you do. If the stocks won’t teach you, then maybe a good old flogging will!” If the boys face was pale already, it now looked as white as a sheet. He even started to tremble a bit and for once he had no comeback. Huh. If Uther knew that the threat of flogging would have been enough to get the boy to shut up and behave, he would have used it sooner. Of course, the other people in the Throne Room disagreed with him.

“Father, you can’t be serious!” Arthur stood between his father and his manservant. “I get that you’re upset Merlin has forgotten to tell you these things, but I can assure you, he meant no disrespect. He doesn’t deserve to be flogged for a harmless mistake.”

For once Morgana was with Arthur, chiming in with an “Uther! You can’t just go and flog the boy!” Seriously, if the King didn’t know any better, he would say that his children liked the servant boy more than him.

Uther turned toward his son and looked him straight in the eye. “Disrespect or not, a servant must be punished for the mistakes they make. This is the third time he stands before me because he has forgotten to relay a message, and I can’t just keep putting him the stocks for it! If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he almost enjoys having food pelted at him!” Then the king turned his gaze onto his ward and thundered: “I can and I will. And if you don’t keep your complaints to yourself, then I’ll ask the guards to lock you up in your room, do you understand?!” Green eyes were wide and filled with something that could’ve resembled hate.

“You’re a monster,” Morgana hissed, before fleeing the room with her maidservant close on her heels. And if Uther noticed the tears on the maidservant’s cheeks, then he would certainly not mention them.

“Guards! Please escort the Lady Morgana to her rooms and make sure she stays there for the remainder of the day.” His voice was nearly ice cold at this point, but he did not care. How dare they treat him like this! He was the King for God’s sake! Blowing a hard breath out through his nose, he turned toward his one trusted friend. “And do you have anything to say about all this?”

“He’s my ward Sire, off course I’d rather not have you flog him.” Gauis kept his explanation calm. He knew an upset and challenged Uther was an Uther more prone to lashing out, and giving an even harder sentence. “The poor boy is skin and bone because of years of malnutrition, and I’m worried that if the wounds get infected, he won’t have the strength to fight it off.” 

For a second Uther felt guilt setting in. He knew that Gaius looked at the boy (Merlin, was it?) as his own son, and he was loath to hurt his old friend, but at the same time he now had a point to prove. Besides…

“How can he be malnourished when he’s been here in Camelot, eating well for months?” Because really, no way the boy was still skin over bones when he had access to unlimited food here in the castle. Gaius raised his eyebrow and for a small moment Uther felt like a young fool again… Of course, servants did not have the same access to food as the courtiers, nor would Merlin have much time to eat when doing Arthur’s bidding all day (the King had seen the chore list and even he had to admit—it might be a smidge excessive). “Right,” was all he said about it in the end.

“Father—” Arthur tried to gain his attention once again. “Merlin does not deserve this punishment; I was the one who asked him to take the blame for me, as I didn’t want to take responsibility after all that’s happened with Sophia these last few days.” The prince’s words caused everyone to look at him in surprise—it wasn’t often the man admitted to being the one to blame. In fact, it was nearly unheard off!

Uther just looked at his only son and quietly said that he already knew that Merlin was lying to protect Arthur, before adding that it didn’t matter, as the boy still lied to his king, and if he so wanted, he could take that as treason and have the boy executed. “I understand that you want to protect your manservant, but my decision on this stands firm. Either you accept this, or I will ask the guard to lock you up in your room, like I did with Morgana.”

Swallowing hard, Arthur looked at Merlin with regret in his eyes. “I understand.” It was whispered in the same defeated tone the boy (or was it man now?) always adapted when his father was disappointed in him.

“Good.” Uther clasped his son’s shoulder and shepherded him to the side of the room. “I think 10 lashes will do, since I don’t want to risk accidently killing the boy. Normally I would have made you carry out the punishment for making him lie to me.” The blond’s face turned ashen. “But to thank you for your honesty, I will deliver the lashes myself, and we will do it now so that Gaius can immediately look him over afterwards. Guards, please bring me a whip, and have Merlin stand in front of the pillar over there, with his shirt off.” At this point Arthur was looking like a kicked puppy about to lose its favourite toy. Merlin removed his vest and shirt, handing them over to his mentor, and dear Lord! the boy was indeed nothing more than skin and bones. He looked like a small bird that could be squished at any time. The stricken look on Arthur’s face was also indication enough that he did not know the boy was this underfed. Then again, his baggy clothes hid a lot of his frame.

A guard came forward and shackled the fragile body to the pillar, while another one returned to the Throne Room with his whip. “Are you ready, boy?”

“Yes, Sire.” It was barely more than a whisper, but it was enough for the King. Pulling his hand back, he released the first lash. The boy took it without any verbal complaint, except for a sharp intake of breath. The next 4 lashes were received in much the same fashion. At the 6th, Merlin started emitting small, painful-sounding moans that grew steadily louder with each hit. The 10th and final lash drew a scream and just like that, the boy fell to his knees. Or at least he would have if the cuffs hadn’t kept him upright.

“MERLIN!” Gaius rushed forward and gently cradled his ward’s head, lifting the boy’s eyelids to gauge how conscious he still was. Truth be told, the boy did seem out of this world with pain.

Next to him, his son looked him in the eyes and hissed out, “I hate you.” The severity in Arthur’s blue eyes showed that he was serious, and Uther simply could not understand why his son was so protective of this manservant when he used to do nothing but bully his previous servants and make them target practises. Maybe he was developing feelings for him? While problematic, it was better than developing feelings for a female peasant, as he couldn’t get the boy pregnant. Deciding that he no longer wanted to be in the company of people who took the side of someone with a mental affliction, he left the Throne Room and retired to his chambers.

xoxox

When Merlin awoke next, it was to pure agony spreading through his body. He remembered what happened up until the flogging started, but everything after was a giant hole in his memory. He thinks he may have fainted?

“Don’t move!” a voice commanded from somewhere next to him. “Gaius took care of your wounds, but moving may aggravate them, and I think we’d both rather avoid one of his lectures, don’t you agree?”

“Arthur?” The sorcerer is fairly sure it’s the prince’s voice but then again…his brain is definitely not fully operational yet.

“Who else, you idiot?” Arthur sounded fond. Was he sure this was Arthur? Because dollopheads don’t sound fond. 

“What are you doing in my room?”

Another breathy laugh, and it was enough to spark something in his chest (he really had no idea what feeling this might be.) 

“You mean my room, right? Because this is definitely my bed you are lying in.”

That statement was enough to shock the raven-haired boy awake, and in his surprise, he tried to sit up—which resulted in a lot of pain. Seriously, where were Gaius’ foul-smelling potions when you needed them?

“Oh, here.” He was gently turned around and something was placed against his lips. It tasted horrible, but at this point Merlin was so familiar with Gaius and his pain potion that he knew it couldn’t be anything else. Except maybe poison…would Arthur really try to poison him after all they’d been through?

“Of course I wouldn’t poison you, you idiot. Gaius gave this to me so you wouldn’t be in too much pain after waking up.”

Oh! He said that out loud, did he?

“Yes, you did. You’re still doing it, by the way,” laughed the blond.

Looking up, Merlin made eye contact with his master, and raised an eyebrow in perfect imitation of his mentor. It managed to pull another lovely laugh out of Arthur. “After Gaius patched you up, we decided that your bed wasn’t the best place to sleep in, as it’s hard and would probably damage your back even more. So I offered my bed. It’s big enough, anyway.”

The other eyebrow joined the first. No way did Arthur do something like this just because—there had to be another reason for his generosity. “Why?” Okay, so maybe that came out a bit more accusatory than planned, but Arthur had to forgive him—he was confused and in pain. Which is never a good combination, to be honest.

The smile on the blond’s face fell off and was replaced with pure guilt. “My father flogged you, Merlin. He flogged you because I let you take the fall after saving me from Sophia’s enchantment. Letting you sleep in my bed while you recover is the least I can do.”

Gently framing the prince’s face with his hands, Merlin made sure to look him straight in the eye. “That is through no fault of your own. You did not know that your father would flog me instead of putting me in the stocks like usual. You tried to reason with him, and when that failed, you helped Gaius take care of me. You are not your father, Arthur, and you shouldn’t feel guilty about what happened.”

Arthur still looked doubtful, but he seemed to let it go for now. Instead, he gazed into Merlin’s eyes to see if his servant really was fine. Merlin just gazed back with gratefulness, and before both knew it, there was this pull between them. For a millisecond the raven-haired boy actually thought that they might kiss, before the moment was over and instead the blonde prat pulled him carefully closer into a hug, where he placed his face in Merlin’s neck.

“I’m sorry.”

“Who are you, and what have you done with Prince Arthur?” the boy laughed; it was weird to see how far Arthur had already come in the short time they had known each other. He still was a spoiled prat, but at the same time, the sorcerer could see what the dragon meant when he said that Arthur would be a great king. 

A very ungraceful snort left the prince. “Shut up, Merlin.” But he only lifted his head to look into Merlin’s eyes again, unconsciously stroking the black hair. “Try to get some more sleep if you can. After all, I have a huge list of chores for you to do.” The crooked smile sent his way made Merlin’s heart flutter a bit, and he found himself giving a small smile back.

“I’ll try.” And with that the boy snuggled closer to his prince, and buried his face against Arthur’s chest. He knew whatever this was, it would be over by tomorrow, so he’d make the most of it while he could. He loved having this closeness and being allowed to take comfort, even if it was only for a little while. “Hey Arthur? Thank you.” It wasn’t long after that sleep overtook him.

Unbeknownst to him, the prince wrapped him even closer before going to sleep himself. Tomorrow they would go back to their normal way of dealing with each other, but for now, he would allow himself to show the fondness he normally had to hide. And if he thought to himself how grateful he was to have this servant in his life, well…the other boy never had to know, right?

**Author's Note:**

> And that was it ^^" I do hope people enjoyed this little thing, please let me know if you did :)


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